Employment and Migration Blog

Tag: lawyers parramatta

As many of my clients know, I am taking a gap year in 2013, travelling the UK and Europe so my posts this year will have a travel theme. I have just finished 2 ½ weeks in Rome, where one of the top priorities of my wife and I was to see the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. You enter through a small door, onto a marble pavement which extends a couple of metres and then goes down 3 steps to the main floor. And as everyone knows about Michelangelo painting the ceiling, most visitors stop, and look up to stare, as soon as they get through the door, attention pretty much distracted from the steps by the sight of God creating the world, and creating Adam, and the brightly coloured portraits of sibyls and prophets. So, immediate WH&S issue: the risk of someone tumbling down the stairs is pretty high. And if the Work Health & Safety legislation applied, the Vatican would clearly have a duty to all these visitors to a workplace. At first glance, there is nothing in place to address the risk: no barriers, no high-vis markers on the edges of the marble steps, no prominent signs (no-one would look at them anyway!). It seems “all reasonably practicable steps” have not been taken to remove or minimise the risk.

For the next 12 months I will be heading up the Employment Law and Business Migration team here at Coleman Greig, while Stephen Booth takes a sabbatical and ventures around Europe (in my opinion - a well deserved break after 25 years of practice!). If we are lucky we might hear from Stephen throughout the year - maybe even with a description of the picturesque locations he happens to be exploring - but for now it is probably best to review some of the latest developments in the employment law/immigration space over the holiday period!

There was a flurry of media attention in 2008 when Vivienne Dye launched claims against Commsec and the Commonwealth Bank, alleging persistent predatory sexual harassment (in some instances alleging conduct amounting to rape) by two named managers. The managers’ reputations were trashed. However, in the long run it is Ms Dye who has crashed and burned, as the Federal Court dismissed all her claims last month, after a case lasting 94 hearing days! The decision includes many details which would seem far fetched if you read them in a novel, including Ms Dye attending a work party wearing a white fur G-string – as you do!

Retailers will very shortly be able to hire high school students on 90 minute casual after-school shifts, after Fair Work Australia rejected the appeal by the Shop Distributive Allied Employer’s Association (refer to previous blog).
FWA wasn’t persuaded that the proposed variation of the three hour minimum engagement period under the General Retail Industry Award was “affected by error”.
The decision, however, doesn’t mean an immediate start to 90 minute shifts because the Award was not formally varied, but the option shouldn’t be too far away!
It is anticipated that 90 minute shifts will only be available where the employee and their parent or guardian agrees, and where employment for a longer period than the period of the engagement is not possible either because of the operational requirements of the employer, or the unavailability of the employee.